The Miracle Avengers
by soundless steps
Summary: After the events of what is known world over as the Avengers' Civil War, Tony finds himself trying to find new heroes to help control the damage dealt by Earth's enemies. A sudden realization convinces him to look at all the possibilities, and what he found was nothing short of miraculous. (Three-shot)
1. Chapter 1

AN: What you see here is the natural result of thinking about the aftermath of superhero exploits...which has become a hot topic lately. This story will be focused on Tony Stark, and will act as an introduction to Miraculous Ladybug for those who don't know what it is, but without the thick candy coating that comes with Ladybug being a kid's cartoon. If anyone feels like watching something that blurs the line between the superhero and magical girl genres and is genuinely lighthearted and fun, check it out.

* * *

"Friday, give me what you got." Dozens of faces flashed across a screen as the illustrious Tony Stark lay on his leather couch with a bowl of popcorn in hand. The majority of the faces wore masks – which made sense, what with him looking for anyone with unique skills...who wasn't doing the bad guy thing.

In light of the recent argument with the Captain, Tony decided that some extra manpower would be a good idea. Even after dissolving his company's weapons production and later handing the rights over to his assistant/friend/girlfriend, he still couldn't shake his belief that the side with the biggest guns is the one who keeps the peace. The difference was that the "guns" had to have a heart behind them. It was too easy to pretend to be the good guy when you don't see the harm you cause, and too easy to justify it as just following orders. "Show me...Yellow McRageface."

"Of course Mr. Stark," replied the Irish accented voice of his artificial assistant. "He is Wolverine, aka Logan. He is a prominent member of the X-men, a mutant task force that acts to promote human and mutant cohabitation."

"So, he's one of those kumbaya around a campfire kind of guys," Stark said with a semi-dismissive wave of his hand "he doesn't look it."

"You'd be right on the second assumption. From the information I can gather from hacking into personality profiles stored in the Xavier Institute's databases, he has anger issues that are second only to the Incredible Hulk."

"Bad Friday." Tony said with a smirk and tone that didn't agree with his words. "Hacking is wrong."

"If they didn't want the files to be hacked, they would have kept them with the rest of the heavily encrypted files."

"Ohhh, the juicy stuff. Atta-girl. Leave that for later and tell me what he can do."

"Yes, Mr. Stark. Wolverine possesses an advanced healing factor that lets him shrug off most wounds in seconds and push his body beyond human limits. He also has animal senses, with a nose that can rival bloodhounds. Without doubt, his greatest asset is the adamantium skeleton given to him by the questionable Weapon X project. As a result, his bones have become nigh unbreakable and he received a set of adamantium claws that he uses to devastating effect. There's not much left in one piece once he's through with it. Despite his anger, he has a strong but simple moral code: 'you're innocent until you piss me off.'"

Tony clapped, causing a few popcorn pieces to fly off. "Sounds like our kind of guy...but to be sure, tell me what he's usually up against."

"Yes, Mr. Stark. As a member of the X-men, he is often at odds with the Brotherhood of Mutants or secret anti-mutant organizations within major governments. He has experience working with and against a large variety of individuals, all with different powers and personalities."

Tony of course knew a bit about those secret organizations, though he'd hardly call them secret if some random billionaire genius could look into what was going on with them at his leisure. Some of the things those people wanted to do were genocidal, plain and simple. The X-men keeping such fanatics down was okay in his book. "Welp, I'm sold. Nothing says Avenger material like knowing how to deal with a bag of trail mix and nut jobs, but the anger issues could be a problem. Let's put him down as a maybe."

"Understood."

"Alrighty then." Tony sat up straight and began pointing at random pictures while singing eeny meeny, even though he was basically deciding who to pick based off their costume. "Tell me about the red walking armory."

"Deadpool, aka Wade Wilson. Deadpool is a mercenary who is a master of both melee and ranged combat using conventional weaponry. Like Wolverine, he possesses an accelerated healing factor that was given to him through Weapon X."

"Really? Is Weapon X some kind of super human factory?" Tony asked, incredulously.

"Yes."

Tony shrugged then popped another piece of popcorn into his mouth. "Fair enough. Anything else you can tell me about Deadpool."

"Being a mercenary, Deadpool's services often go to the highest bidder, but he appears to have a history of killing employers who trick him into performing jobs that do more harm than good. A small number of high and low profile criminal leaders have dropped off the radar shortly after hiring Deadpool for a job. His facebook account can be quoted on him insisting that he is not a hero alongside claiming that he is prime Avenger material." An image appeared of his facebook account with the two afore mentioned quotes posted literally minutes from one another.

"Sounds like fun, but I don't think Captain Boy Scout would approve." Tony could see from other posts that Wade lacked any sort of self-control, and even seemed to go out of his way to cause unnecessary destruction just for the fun of it. "What about the guy dressed in puke?"

"Iron Fist, aka, Danny Rand. He is a master of all K'un Lun martial arts, and has the ability to use his chi to enhance all of his abilities to superhuman levels. He can also concentrate all his chi into a single powerful blow, or he can use it to heal himself or others."

Tony slowly sat up as a possibility he had yet to consider made itself known to him. "Friday, focus the search on those that can heal others." In an instant, all the faces disappeared except for Iron Fist. The wave of disappointment that Tony felt came faster than he could think to hide it behind his usual brand of witty sarcasm. Memories of all the destruction from recent events still plagued his mind: Loki's invasion, the battle with Ultron – which included a fight between him and The Hulk in a densely populated area, and then the recent conflict against Captain America. He may have gotten out of business, but he was still a businessman. He saw the numbers of every toppled building, every demolished freeway, every collapsed bridge, and every injured victim.

He knew exactly what it was like to go from having everything to...being nothing. It changes you, sometimes for the better, but usually for the worst. There definitely was more than one occasion of Tony thinking that he was walking the line between the two. He wanted to do better, but was stuck on figuring out how. "Sir, I've sent the invitation."

The voice of his AI shook Tony from his thoughts. Once he refocused onto the screen, he saw that she had formed the digital representation of herself on the screen, looking at him with a concerned expression. She was an orange-red outline of a girl in her mid-late teens, wearing a casual suit. "Are you okay, Mr. Stark?" Unlike the typically sarcastic tone that all of Tony's AIs usually spoke in, Friday's question was clearly full of concern.

Tony let out a long sigh and even set his popcorn aside. If only there was a way to deal with the problem, of course, besides surrendering to the next madman who decided to make Earth their next target. He wished there was an out, some kind of an easy solution. "We need more options."

"Should I remove some of the search parameters then?" she asked, with her avatar gone and the sarcastic tone back.

"Remind me, what were they again?"

"A hero that: hasn't participated willingly in any criminal or terrorist activity, who travels internationally, whose identity is known, who possesses the ability to heal others, and who is at least 18 years of age."

It only took a second for Tony to decide what to keep. "Do we really need to know who they are? And I'm sure I can handle any travel costs."

"If we do not know their identity, we cannot confirm their age, nor can we confirm if their civilian identity has a record."

While he didn't see the problem with the second half so long as their hero identity never went bad, Tony did not like the idea of letting a kid be a part of the kinds of conflict that the Avengers had to deal with. He may have gotten the panic attacks completely under control, but he still had nightmares about flying into that vortex and failing. Ultron had even started joining in on the fun. No kid deserved to have that kind of experience, but maybe, maybe just taking a look wouldn't hurt. "Hit me with your best shot."

Tony began counting the instant he finished his command. Even with a near worldwide sample size, it should take three seconds for Friday to find and catalog all of the results. For this reason, she had his complete attention after taking a full ten seconds to finally say something. "Mr. Stark, you'll want to see this."

Tony sat up straight at a video that was being taken by a smartphone. A quick look at the background showed a significant but not complete lack of skyscrapers. The focus of the video was three costumed figures: one in a bright red spotted costume, one in a black costume, and the largest of them wearing white pants with a dark top. The tallest wound up for some sort of baseball pitch and threw something that sent the other two flying. It was a two versus one scenario, but he couldn't tell the difference between hero and villain; though he was going to assume that the pair were the heroes.

The pair recovered quickly. The red one threw something into the air that gave off bright red lights, then coalesced into a red and black-spotted box, dropping into the matching hero's hands. They focused on the box for a second before the black one had to engage their foe with what looked like a silver staff. While the duel between the two was the focus of the amateur cameraman's recording, Tony could catch glimpses of the spotted hero doing something near a bus. She, judging by the voice, yelled something that got both the villain's and the cameraman's attention. As the villain then ran off to the right, the cameraman swerved ahead of him and revealed what could only be the Eiffel Tower with some kind of advertisement projected on it. The villain appeared from the bottom of the screen, managing at least ten stories in jump height, and swung his arms at the tower. A second later, the tower began sliding forward and the cameraman began running away from the inevitable crash zone.

While it wasn't as widespread as the kind of damage Tony was worried about, apparently cutting clean through the Eiffel Tower with just a motion of the arms was nothing to sneeze at. The destruction of one of the world's most famous monuments would be international news, so why hadn't Tony heard of it? Why hadn't anyone else for that matter?

The sound of the tower crashing entered the phone's speakers, but the timer at the video's corner showed that it took at least thirty seconds before the cameraman finally stopped and pointed his phone back at the scene. There was a small flash of light that exploded in a massive stream of dark pink particles that swirled around the ground a bit before vaporizing the fallen tower and swirling around where it once stood. The armored Avenger could not believe his eyes as he watched the monument restored in less than half the time it took to be destroyed. Up until he became a hero, Tony never believed in miracles. After becoming a hero, he came to understand that miracles didn't have to be grand; they could be as small as beating nearly impossible odds with all the cards stacked against you. What he saw then was exactly what he used to think miracles were.

"I've taken the liberty to search other social media posts around the time of this incident, and there are three of particular interest. The first is a car owner expressing his joy that the damage dealt to his car by The Mime was restored."

"The Mime, really?" While he couldn't shake how excessively well a mime themed villain fit the city of Paris, it also gave him a much clearer idea of what kind of foe the two heroes were fighting. It was easy to guess that he had the ability to use any weapon he mimed, on top of whatever he was using at any given time being invisible. It couldn't be easy acting and reacting against someone with that sort of power. "What about the second?"

"A large number of advertisement posters were destroyed over the course of The Mime's rampage. They too, were restored."

"So she didn't just fix the Eiffel Tower, she fixed everything." If anything, Tony was even more impressed. He found himself needing to know just how this worked, and also needing to know whatever he can about the hero behind that power. "So what's the third thing that got fixed?"

"The third point of interest is an hour long one-on-one interview with the hero."

Jackpot. Tony wanted to take a much closer look at the fight between the two heroes and The Mime, but there was no way he could wait to see what would be in the interview. "Show me."

The screen immediately went to black before revealing a young looking girl wearing bright red spandex, (seriously, what's with the spandex) that had black spots uniformly placed all over the suit. She also wore a mask that shared the color scheme and covered nearly every part of her face over the bridge of her nose that wasn't covered by her dark navy hair, which was styled in two short pigtails. Tony only needed half a second to be sure of what her superhero name was. She wouldn't be the first bug themed hero wearing bright red that he's seen, but unlike Spiderman, bright red made sense for a ladybug hero. "Hey Ladybloggers, this is Alya Césaire with a surprise interview with the hero of Paris, Ladybug!" said the slightly raspy voice of a young female behind the high quality camera phone. She of course spoke in French, but French just so happened to be one of the languages Tony was fully fluent in. "We have to know, what's it like being the hero of Paris?"

"It's amazing. Paris is such a beautiful city, and the people are all so great. I could never stand by while an Akuma threatens all of that." It sounded like a pretty stock response to a stock question, but it did provide a name to the threats she faced.

"Yeah, Paris is pretty amazing, but the Ladybug fans want to know how you feel about being a hero."

Tony smirked when Ladybug became slightly uncertain. It was a sign that wasn't all too prepared, which meant she'd be more likely to make mistakes and share more of her character. She thought it over for thirty seconds before nodding confidently at the answer she came up with. "To be honest, it's pretty scary. I know that every time that I go out there, there's a chance I could lose. If that ever happened, Paris would never be the same again." She chuckled suddenly at a single stray thought that passed through her mind. "I might actually have to thank Cat Black for all the jokes and puns he says all the time." Tony grimaced at what the other hero's name would be translated into English; there was already a Black Cat in New York after all. With Chat Noir being his French name, Tony decided that Cat Noir would roll off the tongue just as well. "Sometimes his timing isn't the best, but I think I'd be really tense all the time if not for him." That answer was much better. It showed that she took being a hero seriously and it was a sign that she wasn't very self centered. It also revealed that her black clad partner was in fact the more lighthearted of the pair.

"Speaking of Paris' favorite cat, what's he like?"

Ladybug's exaggerated roll of the eyes and smile said what her words could in a fraction of the time. "That kitten is the most unbelievable cat I've ever met. Like I said, his timing isn't always the best, but he always comes through when I need him."

"Sounds like you two really work well together. Are there any other activities that you work well together on?" There wasn't anyone in the world who could miss the suggestive tone in the amateur reporter's voice, language barrier or not.

Ladybug didn't miss it herself, judging by her incredulous sputtering. "Me and Cat Noir. He might be a giant flirt, but we aren't like that. We don't even know who we are beneath the mask."

Tony's eyes widened in shock. He was no stranger to heroes doing everything they could to keep their hero identities and their civilian identities separate and could even understand the reasoning a bit, but to keep it secret from a partner in the exact same situation as yourself? That brought the secret identity thing to another level. As someone who revealed himself with hardly any hesitation, it seemed like an unhealthy amount of paranoia. "Are you serious?!" And apparently Alya agreed. "Does anyone know who you are behind that mask?!"

Ladybug chuckled at what Tony suspected was an expected response. "Lots of people know who I am without the mask, but none of them know that I'm Ladybug." It was an interesting way to word her answer. A simple no would've worked, but she went the extra step in separating her two identities. It might even be a sign of a moderate or small ego.

"Isn't that lonely?" The concern in the reporter's voice shone far clearer than the hint of sadness on Ladybug's face. It answered the question of why the hero was letting an amateur conduct the interview. Tony had no problem dealing with callous reporters (thanks to his history as the CEO of a weapons development company), but he doubted that Ladybug had the same experience. Reporters who actually cared about who they were interviewing would always be easier to deal with.

"It is, but I can't risk letting anyone know, not even Cat."

"But...why?"

Ladybug took a deep breath and fixed a camera with a look that added ten years of maturity. "You know how Butterfly's Akuma work, right?"

"Pause." It was just getting good, but there was absolutely no way Tony could stomach a villain named Papillon. He muffled a snicker between his lips.

Friday had no trouble guessing what was bothering him. "The French word papillon is used to describe butterflies or moths. I have two names that will rank high on your preferences: Monarch or Hawk Moth."

"I'll dub him Hawk Moth, Monarch sounds overdone."

"Understood. Resuming video."

"Yeah," the reporter stated in response to Ladybug's segue into Akuma. "some random person could just be having a really bad day, then bam! Suddenly, they're a super powered villain bent on revenge and stealing your and Cat Noir's Miraculous." Tony's heart beat faster from rage-induced adrenaline. Twice now, he'd seen what kind of effect mind control had on others, and once upon himself. The idea that someone was doing this to people who are just having a bad time, and giving them super powers on top of it...Hawk Moth did a very good job of making it onto Tony's shit list.

Ladybug wasn't very happy with the villain either. "Well, there's more to it than that. When Hawk Moth manages to possess somebody, he can communicate with them and learn everything they know. All it takes is one person who knows, or even someone who knows someone who knows, and the people I care about will get hurt. Anyone can be a victim, but Cat Noir and I are Hawk Moth's only targets. He can already torment Paris from whatever hole he's hiding in. The last thing we need is for him to have another advantage over us." If Tony was understanding correctly, Hawk Moth didn't even have to come out of hiding to take control over anyone.

There was a few seconds of the camera shaking in silence before it panned all around the holder as if she hugged herself. "Oh Ladybug, I'm so sorry."

"Alya, it's okay. You didn't know." Tony's heart clenched when he suddenly realized the new course for the interview.

"I felt obsessed...angry...and betrayed. I wanted so much to expose you for who I thought you were, and then...I wake up on a roof at night. You and Cat Noir are standing right in front of me, and the first thing I think to ask is for an interview."

"Alya," the heroine said with a concerned tone, hoping that it would stop the cascade.

"I can't believe I did that! As soon as I checked the Ladyblog...what I did...what I tried to do...I'm..."

"Alya!" The phone was suddenly dropped onto the chair Alya was sitting on. The angle it landed at was just right to see her wrapped in Ladybug's arms. "It's not your fault. We all get upset, we all get angry, and we all get scared. When someone promises that they can make everything better, it's hard not to listen. I don't blame you...no one blames you."

Alya took a long shuddering breath then slowly relaxed into Ladybug's arms. After a few moments, she laughed. "Yeah. It won't happen again. I won't let it!"

They took thirty seconds to reset themselves, which gave Tony time to process what he saw. He came in expecting a more honest interview than there would be in a professional setting, but he was blindsided by the raw emotion on display. There was no questioning Ladybug's character after that, nor was there any questioning the nature of the threat she was up against.

"Okay," Alya said with an unsteady breath. It took yet another deep breath to calm her nerves. "Do you have any advice...on how not to get possessed?"

"It's not easy to say this, but there isn't much we can do, not until we find Hawk Moth and take his Miraculous. The best advice I can give is to let hurtful words be like water off a duck's back. Every time someone is possessed, it's after someone specific said or did something that was going too far. And to the people who do these things, please, think about others. Also, you can't fit everyone into the same bag: what works for one person won't for someone else. If Paris can truly come together, then Hawk Moth will have nothing. But until then, you can count on Ladybug and Cat Noir to pick up the pieces."

The rest of the interview from then on was about the Akuma victims she had to fight against and how each was defeated. The only thing more interesting than the colorful and almost random assortment of super powers she's faced was how each was defeated. Her Lucky Charm created one random – and typically useless item – which she'd then have to apply to the environment or directly to her foe to claim victory, or create an opening to do so. He would have never thought that a regular bath towel could be used to take down someone with the power to control the weather. By the end of the interview, Tony could do nothing to hide the smile on his face. "Friday, when was the last time Pepper and I went on a vacation together?"

"You have not had the opportunity to do so yet. I hear Paris is nice this time of year."

If possible, Tony's smirk grew even wider. "You read my mind."


	2. Omnipoly

It has been a long time since I've written a chapter of anything this size. Writing these characters has been fun, especially whenever I'm drawing parallels between the two lead couples here. Puns are a new thing for me too, some even getting stuck in my head from time to time.

* * *

 **Omnipoly**

Tony Stark knew when to admit to himself that he had a problem. He also had a very simple and satisfying solution to whatever particular problem he had at any given time: Dive in headfirst and drown himself in it. Works every time.

He'd spent a surprisingly small amount of the last two weeks convincing Pepper to join him after his teammates convinced him to bring her along, and spent the rest of the time catching up with her and studying everything there was to know about the Parisian heroes. The Ladyblog ran by the same girl who conducted that interview proved to be the most comprehensive source of information on them, but there was a startling presence of outlandish theories that only had circumstantial evidence. Interestingly enough, the theories became slightly more ridiculous some time after the interview; though, she still made sure to have supporting evidence. Tony decided to focus on theories and evidence from before then, but there was still little chance that Ladybug was a 5000+ year old hero from ancient Egypt. It would solve the minimum age limit. He'd already researched everything of significance he could find and decided to top everything off by seeing the opinions of his closest allies. Their faith in him was staggering.

Rhodes: I hope you know what you're doing here Tony. I know what this looks like to you, and I'm with you. So, don't screw it up. Who knows, maybe she can fix my legs.

Widow: They're kids. Maybe if I had some time to work with them, but they're too innocent right now.

Panther: Stark, I believe that you are too eager to seek out an easy solution for a complicated problem. As for this Ladybug and Cat Noir, they are naive, but there is a wisdom in their naivete. I know you will not keep your distance, so I ask that you not interfere with their growth.

JARVIS: You have found something wondrous, Sir. A hero is someone who is kind, who inspires, and who makes the people feel safe. Even hidden behind a mask, she is everything a hero should be. Do try to be a good role model when you meet her and her partner.

Spidey: First off, I'm this )( close to calling plagiarism; seriously, she's a red bug swinging around the city. Joking aside, I get the feeling that those two really get the responsibility that comes with powers. She can fix everything in an instant, yet they do their best to make it so she doesn't have to. It's also refreshing to see a black cat who isn't a thief. (Don't tell Panth I said that.)

Tony shook his head slowly and prepared a single response for all of them: I'm going to Paris with my girlfriend. If something crazy happens, I won't even get in the way. Scout's honor.

And done. Now that he had effectively jinxed the trip, Tony closed his laptop and turned his attention fully upon his off again/on again girlfriend. It wasn't the kind of thing that he'd admit out loud, but he loved her strawberry blond hair, and the irony of it considering that strawberries were her sole allergy. She was dressed in a black business skirt with a white blouse as she video chatted with some of the big wigs back in the states. The thing she wore that most caught his eye was a necklace made from the metal shards that were once trying to kill him. He wondered if she ever took it off at any point during their break.

Tony pulled out his special black phone and flipped it open to see the latest message Steve sent him. "You should bring Pepper with you. The City of Love sounds like a great place to win her back, and you need her. Now that things have cooled down, I realized that you were different. You were more emotional than usual. I think she keeps you on your feet, and I really don't think you want to fall down again." Cheeky jerk.

Tony hid the phone away when Pepper glanced up from her laptop and gave him (who was also dressed in a formal suit with a red outlined gold tie) a small smirk that he returned in full. Both could see that the other was thinking about how their conversations would be playing out once the vacation got started. Before their split, hardly a few hours could go by without them beginning some sort of verbal exchange: Tony really missed those. "Ten minutes to landing." At Friday's voice, he turned his attention to the window so he could take a look at the famous city. Even with his industrialized mindset, Tony couldn't deny the charm of such a large city with a few million residents and a booming tourist trade having relatively few buildings that weren't much taller than six stories. He was even beginning to think that it wouldn't be so bad if nothing went wrong. He was still worried about how her being close to him came with the risk of her getting caught in the crossfire of the trouble that always manages to find him, but Paris looked truly safe.

Pepper spent the next ten minutes trying to get the share holders to let her go before having to close the computer down as they were still talking. Rather than show any frustration at their persistence, Pepper shook her head and rolled her eyes dismissively. Once her (because Tony did sign over the company) private jet stopped rumbling, she stood up to Tony with amusement written all over her expression. "Tell me, how did you convince me to run your company?"

Tony responded with a toothed grin. "Might have something to do with how much you love me."

"I don't know. _I'm_ starting to think you hypnotized me."

"Damn, you figured me out. It's my smile," he said flashing a debonair grin.

"Oh, your smile is it?"

"Yeah, my smile, it's hypnotic." Pepper rolled her eyes at his dead serious expression then walked towards the exit ramp, rocking her hips with a very clear intent. Round: Pepper.

Once he broke from the temporary hypnosis, Tony stood up and followed her out. Soon as the air hit him, Tony felt a rush of energy. There was nothing like the smell of jet fuel in the morning for the engineer in him. The instant he was away from the steps, a pair of men in uniform walked into the plane in search of their bags. It was no surprise that a hotel like Le Grand Paris wouldn't hesitate to provide the best service possible for high profile visitors like the CEO and former CEO of Stark Industries. "Miss Potts, Mr. Stark, welcome to Paris!" Tony turned towards the man he knew as André Bourgeois, owner of Le Grand Paris, who was smiling with his arms spread wide. He had gray hair but relatively smooth skin. Tony couldn't help but think that his head was tube shaped, not helped by how a layer of fat made it hard to see where the neck ended and the chin began. The man wore a dark gray dress suit with three large black buttons over a white dress shirt and red tie. To top off his look, he wore a blue, white, and red sash that announced to everyone who looked at it that he was the Mayor of Paris.

Pepper walked up to him to handle the pleasantries, allowing Tony a chance to take notice of a blond girl standing off to the side. She had a complete queen bee look to her with her glaringly bright yellow jacket over a white shirt with black horizontal stripes. Her white skinny jeans broke the motif a bit, but the way she crossed her arms and looked off to the side with complete disinterest helped reinforce Tony's opinion two-fold. Stark made a mental note to try and keep his distance from her; there was no way he'd be able to keep himself from tearing into her within minutes of any kind of sustained conversation. He could get away with doing that to pretentious politicians, but Pepper would give him the cold shoulder for the whole week if he did that to a kid.

"Which do you want to do?"

Tony shook his head and turned his focus on his girlfriend. The look in her eyes was all the evidence he needed to know that she was asking him a question precisely because he wasn't paying attention. It still didn't change his options: either try to fake his way through or be honest. "Sorry, I was busy...taking in the sights. What was the question?" Honesty it was.

Tony really did love the way Pepper rolled her eyes with that amused smile of hers. "Do you want to take the limo to the hotel, or do you want to walk?"

There was only one reason Pepper would ask a question like that. "Never liked limos, they're completely ridiculous. You know some of them take five minutes just to make a turn? It's a nice day out, and tougher things than a walk have tried to kill me." As testament to his experience, he didn't flinch at all from the pair of screams coming from inside the plane. "Friday must be feeling a bit pranky. Think those guys can handle the bags?"

She smiled, almost laughed, at his observation. "I think they'll be fine. Shall we?" She linked her left arm with his right and led him to the Parisian Mayor while managing to make it look like he was the one in charge. "Tony and I will be walking. Can you make sure our bags make it to our room?"

"Of course Miss Potts, Mr. Stark, and let me commend you for your decision. There is no better way to see the sights, but I must ask you a favor. If anything unusual happens...please leave it to the local heroes. I'd rather you not exercise your...particular brand of super-heroism."

Tony immediately felt Pepper's grip tighten on his arm. "This is where I remind you that you should've warned Pepper about your ulterior motive," Friday unhelpfully added through the miniature headset he had in his right ear.

"Wait a second... _you're_ superhero?!" the young girl asked Pepper while giving her the stink eye. The kid's voice was a grating as Tony expected it to be.

"He's the hero," Pepper said tilting her head towards him, "I just run his company."

The blond girl snapped her gaze from Pepper to Tony and gave him the most judgmental glare he ever received from anyone less than half his age. He'd seen a similar look in the eyes of others many times in his career, both new and old. All the self-entitlement and haughtiness was there, but she lacked the envy for his Iron Man suits. She'd make a perfect pompous politician that can't think past their own interests once she gets older: Hydra would've loved her. As it was now, Tony just gave her a confident smirk and waited for the dismissive remark that he was sure to be coming. "What kind of powers do you have?" The words weren't dismissive, but the tone was there.

Before Tony could respond, Pepper tightened her grip on his arm further. Clearly, superhero topics were off limits at the moment. "Well, I'd love to tell you all about how I built super armor that I've used to save the world, but we're on vacation. If you're a good little girl, you might get a chance meet Iron Man."

"I think I can do without." Charming.

"Shame." Tony gave Pepper a sideways glance with a smirk still on his face. "Shall we, Ma Amoré?"

Pepper smiled back at him and loosened her grip only a little. "After you." She waited until they were just far enough away to not have to conspicuously whisper into his ear. "So what's this I hear about local heroes?"

"In a big city like Paris, I'd be more surprised if there weren't heroes here."

"Ah-uh...so you're telling me you don't already know who these heroes are?"

"Pepper, you wound me. When was the last time I hid an ulterior motive from you?"

" _Should I prepare the dog house, Boss?"_ Friday said just before Pepper's response.

Pepper turned towards him with an arched brow while taking in his confident smirk. He was lying. She knew it, he knew it, and he knew that she knew. "Do you want that in alphabetical or chronological order, or would you rather I stick with every time _after_ you became Iron Man."

Tony's smile was just as relaxed as ever, but he was on guard on the inside. "You know, I'm not the type to get stuck in the past."

So that's how it's going to be. "Last time I checked, having something from your past saved your life."

"If I wasn't so attached to the scars from my mistakes, I wouldn't have needed it."

He got her with that one...the direct approach it is then. "Tony, please tell me we aren't here just so you can get involved in another fight."

Tony was prepared to wave off her concerns, but one look at her eyes stopped him in his tracks. She didn't want nor need to hear another dismissive or sarcastic comment from him. He had to give her something concrete. "Okay, I kept this secret from you. I'm kinda hoping that something happens, but I'm going to spend every peaceful moment I can with you. I promise you that I won't even bother with any super villains unless it's really bad."

She looked at him in suspicion for a second, but relaxed when she recognized that he had a real smile on his face as opposed to a playful smirk. "I'll hold you to that Mr. Stark."

The tension between them faded just in time to leave the airport and take in the sheer lack of scale that the city had. It was a massive difference for a pair that grew up under or nearby the towering structures that dominated the cityscape, yet Paris was no less densely packed. People milled about one way or another, nearly all of them going about their day without paying the two Americans an ounce of attention. Most that did take notice of them did so for only a few seconds, and the few others ultimately kept their distance. With some quick directions from Friday, they turned towards central Paris and began what would be an hour long trek.

They spent over half that hour in relative silence, just looking at the city and watching the people go about their day, taking special notice of any other obvious couples that they'd happen to spot. As they explored, they began to gravitate more towards side streets and small alleys. The bustling main streets had much for them to see, but they quickly found themselves seeking out the greater privacy of the backstreets: a product of their time spend mostly alone in a large mansion and wanting some privacy to enjoy the other person's company. The way that nearly every building was fused into the next while still being built from a distinctly different material or methods provided little limit to the variation. It would have been disorienting if not for Friday providing directions, but that didn't keep Tony from making a wrong turn every once in a while.

Thanks to the peace of the Parisian morning, Pepper and Tony were startled when a collision threw them to the ground. Honed instincts drove Tony's gaze towards the perpetrator. All he could make out was a man running around a corner, but he did see him just long enough to make out bluejeans, a dark-blue windbreaker, and the designer purse that was on Pepper's opposite shoulder just a few moments ago. He shifted his focus to his true concern. She looked to have fallen to her side, but managed to catch herself before her head could reach the pavement. The worst injury she'd have would be some scraping on her hand. Aside from that and some disorientation, she was fine, but Tony still had to ask. "You okay, Pepper?"

She put her free hand to her head and shook it slightly. "What happened?"

"Might have something to do with two obviously rich people being alone in the back streets. We got mugged." As soon as the words left his mouth, the absurdity of the situation hit him. He was Iron Man. He'd fought against War Mongers, Gods, Armies, an omnicidal robot, and even his friends; and he got blindsided by a run of the mill crook.

After a few seconds of laughter, he gave her a pleading gaze. "No, Tony," Pepper said before the words left his mouth. She knew what he wanted to do, and wasn't so stupid to believe that he didn't have some way to be dressed in his super powered armor within the next minute.

"Pepper...we just got mugged. Give me the name of one superhero who doesn't want to get mugged at least once." She glared back at him, which meant it was time for the big guns. As tenderly as can be, he took her hand into both of his and gave her the most pleading gaze he could. "Please~." She continued to glare at him before a small roll of her eyes gave him all the permission he needed. He quickly stood up and removed his shoes before handing them to Pepper. "Collateral," he explained jokingly at her quirked eyebrow. With the obstruction out of the way, he triggered the mental command that activated the strategically attached metal bands that he was wearing under his monkey suit. The suit wasn't as powerful or tough as his T-43 armor, but it was easy to concealed. Aside from the gold and red plates that covered his hands and feet, no one would be able to tell that he was in full body armor. He could've covered his head, but he wanted Pepper to see his face. "Catch you latter, Ma Chéri."

With a flash of light from his hands and feet, Tony was above the rooftops and searching the alleys for his new favorite purse snatcher. He didn't have to search for long before he spotted the man only one block away from his encounter. Now, Tony could just grab Pepper's purse, drop the man off at the nearest policeman, and be on his way. He could do that, but he had a much more fun idea.

Keeping his repulsors as silent as he could, Tony dropped in right behind the man. He was so focused on riffling through Pepper's purse, he didn't even hear the soft tink of Tony's armored feet landing right behind him. "I know you can learn a lot about a woman from the contents of her purse, but I get the feeling that's not what you have in mind." Classic, especially when the man froze before slowly turning around with a terror stricken expression. Even when the man pulled out a pistol, Tony continued to look at him with an amused expression. "Seriously, you're snatching purses when you can afford to get a gun." If he aimed up at his head, Tony could easily grab the gun before he fired.

"Shut up! You don't know anything!" The man was scared. He could've sworn that he was just another man with too much money to burn. He was supposed to be another selfish snob that cared only for himself. There was no way someone like that could stare down a gun like it was nothing. "Just back away, and I won't have to shoot you!"

It wasn't an empty threat, but it was pretty shallow. Tony could've handled him easily by then, but maybe it would be better not to go straight for the ass-kicking option. "Look...can I call you Jaune?"

"My name's Tristan!"

"I'm gonna call you Jaune." Tony took a step back and began circling the purse snatcher slowly. "Look, you are really unlucky. Seriously, if there were an Olympics for bad luck, you would have made gold easy. How 'bout you drop the gun, hand me my girlfriends purse, and we can go on our merry way. What do you say?" Tony held out his hand and looked at the man with a firm, unmovable gaze. Tony half expected the man to notice the armor coating his hand, but the panic in Jaune's eyes made that prospect unlikely.

BANG!

Well, there went the peaceful approach. Tony pulled his hand away from the man and looked down at his chest dramatically. He then pulled his tie out an inspected the small hole straight through the middle of it. "You know, I really liked this tie." And with one quick command, Tony's head was covered as well and Tristan was backing away in fear. "Let's try this again." Tony took a single step forward before he saw something tapping on his right shoulder through what peripheral vision was allowed through his suit. A quick glance to the side revealed what looked like the end of a silver staff. Tony's genius mind immediately put the pieces together, and he couldn't believe his luck.

He turned half-way around before he could see Paris's feline crime fighter standing there with a confident smirk plastered on his face and amusement in his eyes. Now that he was looking at the hero, Tony could remember that he was a sunny blond with green eyes. Like just about any other superhero, Cat Noir was very fit, but his body shape was more like the lithe Spiderman than like Thor or the Captain.

The fact that he had trouble remembering what he or Ladybug looked like when he wasn't looking directly at them or focused entirely on them was a point of frustration for Tony. There was something in their disguises that messed with his head, even through pictures and videos. Even as he looked at her partner, Ladybug was coming up as someone with brown hair and gray eyes in his mind.

The other hero looked ready to say something, but his eyes shifted to confusion for a second before shifting again into recollection. In yet another second, he pulled his staff back and began leaning on it with a confident smirk back on his face. "How about I let you two _iron_ this out. I'll step in if things get too _ferrumcious_ _._ "

Tony had to admit that he was not expecting the puns, but they were an obvious sign that Cat Noir recognized who he was. Tony gave the other hero an unseen smile before turning his attention back on his original target. "Well, you heard the kid. Let's get back to where we left off. I think we're at the part where I make you pay for my tie."

Tristan wasn't even looking at the Armored Avenger; instead his focus was entirely on the more familiar hero. "What are you doing?! He's an Akuma, save me!"

Cat Noir blinked at him twice before doubling over in laughter. "You...you seriously don't know who this is?! This is Tony Stark, the billionaire superhero, Iron Man. If he's an Akuma, then I'm a supermodel...though I will admit that I've got the looks for it." He made sure to punctuate that last bit with a debonair smirk and a chuckle.

Now Tristan was truly terrified, so he did what all terrified people did: latched on what he understood most. "Billionaire! If you're so rich, then why do you even care! What's the money in one purse to you?! You have no idea what it's like to have nothing!"

Tony only laughed at him then walked right up to his face. "You think you know what rock bottom is? Rock bottom is being trapped in a cave and eating gruel every day. Rock bottom is being poisoned by the very thing keeping you alive. Rock bottom is having panic attacks because you just can't handle the pressure anymore. Having a hard time doesn't give you..."

He was suddenly cut off by Pepper screaming his name. Tony turned to her sharply and took note of her eyes, which reflected back at him what he was doing. He instantly recognized that he was venting his pent up rage at someone who just happened to say the wrong thing. Every time, she would be the one to reign him back in, even if it was through some gentle sarcasm. Tony was about to do just that when he noticed Tristan turning towards her, his gun following the trajectory of his gaze. It only took Tony an instant to lash out and take the armed hand into a nearly bone-crushing grip. The weapon fell from his hand and tumbled towards the ground. It hit the ground and bounced slightly.

BANG!

Tony's heart rate spiked at the gun's malfunction. Without any prompting, the advanced programs in his suit began calculating the trajectory of the stray bullet. It was a relief when his systems showed the gun had fired behind him rather than towards Pepper. With little more than idle curiosity guiding him, he followed the bullet's path all the way to a leather-clad superhero who was up on one leg, nonchalantly swiping his raised left leg with a scowl in his face. The scanners in his helmet immediately zoomed in and saw flecks of bullet casing flying off. It didn't take a genius to see that Cat Noir was treating being shot in the shin as little more than a nuisance. It still wouldn't hurt to be courteous. "You okay?"

He returned to his previous stance, smirk and all. "Yeah, I barely felt it."

Tony raised an eyebrow at his nonchalant stance at being shot. Even a low caliber gun should still pierce skin and crack bone. "What's your suit made of?" While it sounded as if he was asking Cat Noir, Tony was really directing his question to Friday. The scanners and processors in his helmet went into overdrive in an attempt to discern the chemical makeup of the other hero's suit. They revealed a hexagonal pattern that repeated consistently no matter how magnified the image became. The most telling detail he could make out was that the suit was repairing itself quickly. Without the better equipment so he could see the molecular structure, Tony was left guessing that is was some kind of carbon: possibly even graphene layered over quality leather. The layer appeared to be around 3mm thick, which was comparable to an inch of highly flexible steel if it really was graphene.

"Magic," Cat Noir answered with a shrug, "that's the best I've got."

Although he did so only temporarily, Tony accepted the answer. "Boys." Both heroes turned to Pepper who was pointing back down the alley, where Tristan was running away with her purse still in hand.

Before Tony could take after him, a silver rod extended all the way to between Tristan's legs before sweeping them out from beneath him. Cat Noir's staff retracted back to its normal size instantly before being used again to vault its wielder straight to the downed criminal. He then lowered himself to all fours and looked at Tristan as one would a child. "Sorry, but I've got to take this _purr_ se snatcher to the pound. Maybe I'll _cat_ ch you latter." The hero took the purse and slung the catatonic thief over his shoulder before he then walked over to return Pepper's belongings.

The instant the purse left his hands, Tony placed a hand on his free shoulder to keep him from leaving. "Sure about that. We could shoot the breeze, talk about saving the world, you know...guy stuff. "

Cat Noir looked at the high profile hero with wide eyed confusion up until he noticed Pepper leaned against the wall, staring at them, after which he tilted his head back and smirked at Tony. "While I'd like to take _aveng_ tage of your offer, I think your lady might turn _cat_ ty if you ignore her any longer."

Tony repressed a flinch and turned towards Pepper with an apology at his lips only to be stopped by her raised palm. "Save it. If you want to talk superheroes and world saving, don't let me stop you." She slung her purse over her shoulder and walked away in a huff, leaving behind a slightly frustrated Tony and a sympathetic Cat.

"Let me go!" Tristan struggled and raged against Cat Noir's hold, but his blows and struggles were nothing to the hero's enhanced strength and durability.

In fact, Cat Noir's attention and sympathy was completely on Pepper. There wasn't anything he wouldn't drop to make sure his Lady was happy and loved, he couldn't believe that Tony was so easily letting her walk off like that. Maybe his idea on how love should be wasn't perfect, but he didn't think that was it.

As if she knew that she was on his mind, Cat's now five-inch staff began ringing with an incoming call from Ladybug. The instant he pressed the button on the side of his staff, the world around the built in video screen faded away. "Hello, M'Lady. To what do I owe the _purr_ sure of your call."

She rolled her eyes at his joke. It was not the same as her smile, which had the power to ignite his heart and remind him of a time when he was loved unconditionally, but he would not deny that he felt joy at being able to elicit some sort of response. "Cool it with the jokes kitty. I've seen some posts about gunshots near your patrol path. Is everything alright?" Of course she learned about that. Patrolling was effective, but it always paid to keep and eye on what was happening online.

" _Purr_ fect, M'Lady." He lifted the screen to show off the man still struggling in futility against Cat's one armed hold. "This purse snatcher thought he could swipe his prize straight from a superhero's girlfriend." Cat knew how she'd take that, and she didn't disappoint.

"Cat, I'm surprised. Who knew you could be such a naughty Kitty. Does she know about _us_." Her tone was joking, but there was a firm undertone that only a trained ear would catch. There was no way she'd do anything more than glare at him for flirting with her if he had a girlfriend in his civilian life.

"Not I, M'Lady. You know that my heart beats only for you. It was Iron Man, one of the Avengers from America."

Before she could roll her eyes at his flirt, she had to give pause to process the info. "Iron Man? Should I be worried about that?" Something big usually did happen around him after all.

"I think not M'Lady. He's just a well armed tourist right now."

Ladybug let out a small sigh and smiled in relief, relief that radiated through the black hero simply by seeing it. "That's good. I don't think even I could fix the kind of damage that happens around him."

She was doubting herself again. There was no way Cat could let something like that slide. "You underestimate yourself M'Lady. I've no doubt you could restore all of Paris, nay, the entire world."

His confidence in her abilities was touching, but it did little to quell her feelings. "Let's hope we never have to find out. Now, about those gunshots. Are you sure no one was hit?"

That was another think he loved about her. No matter what, the well being of the people was something she'd never forget about. "No one who is not bulletproof. I might have a little bruise, but I'll..."

"What! You've been shot!"

Cat smiled at her concern before shifting it into a smirk. "So you do care about me. No wonder I'm en _cat_ ed with you."

"You stupid Cat, this is serious! Do you need me to use my cure?!"

That was the last thing Cat wanted. He could barely feel the spot where the bullet hit him, and he didn't want her cutting her patrol short just for that. With his quick thinking, he came up with something that might work. "Worry not M'Lady, tis but a scratch." He could only hope she knew the joke.

There was a small twitch of her lips, but her gaze remained firm. "You're hurt."

"No I'm not."

"You were shot." Cat smirked widely...not only did she get it, she was playing along.

"I've had worse."

She finally cracked a smile which had Cat Noir beaming back at her. "Monty Python...really?" She tried to furrow her brow in frustration, but it could not hide the mirth in her eyes. She ultimately decided to give him this one: He deserved a win every once and a while. "So my Kitty _does_ have good tastes?"

"Of course, and I see it as all the more proof that we're made for each other."

"Not on your life kitty."

"You forget, M'Lady...I've got eight to spare."

She just shook her head at his persistence. "Make sure you put some ice on your leg when you get home. Ladybug out."

With his heart warm like the summer sun over a green field, Cat extended his staff back to the ground and looked up to see Tony Stark looking back at him with interest. Cat rose a single eyebrow and frowned at him. "Shouldn't you be with your girlfriend right now?" Without waiting for a response, he vaulted over to where the gun was so he could grab it before vaulting again to the roofs of the four story buildings and began making his way to the police office with the now screaming criminal held firmly over his shoulder.

Tony watched the hero leave then reactivated the boots and gauntlets of his suit. He had no choice but to fly to find her: Pepper still had his shoes. He stayed low and kept a keen eye out for a familiar shade of strawberry-blond hair, all while thinking about the exchange between the two Parisian heroes that he eavesdropped on. There was something familiar about it and refreshing. Eventually he managed to spot Pepper walking along the side of the Seine River. She'd be angry at him, that much was certain. That only left how he was going to appease her. At the moment, he was feeling inspired to try something different. There was no way he'd lose out to a stray alley-cat.

Pepper was pissed, but she wasn't really surprised. Ever since she caught him working on his first set of armor, he'd been obsessed with using them to satisfy his selfish ego and to stop any threat that popped up. Those two weren't mutually exclusive either. She hoped that this vacation would be separate from his other life. She laughed at her own naivete and looked out at the river. She stuffed Tony's shoes into her purse after dusting them off, but she was sorely tempted to give them an improper washing.

She was about to do just that when he dropped down right in front of her. She instead crossed her arms and prepared some kind of scathing retort, but it died at her lips when he suddenly bowed. The arrogant, egotistical, and narcissistic Tony Stark just lowered himself to her. The complete contradiction from who she knew him to be caught her off guard: She was sure she could quote him on belittling chivalry at some point in the past. "Apologies for the delay, My Dear. Someone as beautiful as yourself should never be without your knight in shinning armor."

Both the bow and the choice of words were completely new to Pepper, but that confident smirk and the audacity to believe that she'd forgive him that easily were all Tony. She was still at a loss for words considering that what he did was well outside her experience with the overconfident playboy. "What's wrong, are you stricken silent by my stunning splendor?"

Now that was more like Tony. "The only stunning thing here is how ridiculous you're being."

"You know you're loving it."

She couldn't deny that bit. "Not as much as you're loving yourself."

Tony's smirk grew at the lack of denial. "Everyone loves me. Some just need to be more honest about it."

"God forbid should something like that ever happen. Your ego's big enough as is."

"Larger than life, just like everything else about me."

"Any larger, and you'll eclipse the moon."

Tony stood tall and tilted his head with his smirk still plastered on his face. "Now there's an idea." The mental image of a space satellite projecting his face on the surface of the moon came to mind.

Knowing what Tony's thinking face looked like, Pepper had to make sure he wasn't thinking anything crazy. "Put that on hold. You still have to escort me to our room."

"Well if you want me to, who am I to deny you the pleasure. I just need one thing from you."

He walked up to her and leaned in close enough that she could feel his breath on her lips. "And what would that be Mr. Stark?"

"My shoes."

* * *

A small white car that had a large blue strip on its sides, underlined by a red stripe, and was filled in by Police written in white, pulled right up to one of the more distant reserved parking spaces. Once the door opened, out came Lieutenant Rogers. He was a mid-height and overweight man who stood tall and wore his uniform with pride. He took a deep breath of the Parisian air and opened his eyes to see a superhero dropping in right in front of him. While he was familiar with the act like any other Policeman in Paris, Cat Noir's sudden appearance still gave him a small start. He hid it well and crossed his arms while simultaneously taking notice of the _package_ slung over the hero's shoulder. "Well, would you look what the Cat dragged in. What did this one do?"

Cat smiled in approval of the obvious pun and dropped Tristan onto the asphalt as gently as he could while keeping a grip on his shoulder. "Just a _stray purr_ se snatcher."

Roger laughed wholeheartedly at this. "And here I thought you were bad luck. Do you know where I can find them? A hero's word and a weapon are good, but I like to have _all_ the evidence."

"I'll bet one of my lives that they're walking to La Grand Paris. You can probably wait for them there."

Tristan snorted at this will all the force he could. "Of course the billionaire is staying at the ritziest hotel."

"That's enough from you!" With trained swiftness, Roger pulled out a pair of cuffs and restrained the man. "You have the right to be informed of the purpose of your detention and its expected duration; the right to be informed of the charges placed upon you; the right to be assisted by a lawyer as of the beginning of your detention; the right to be examined by a physician; the right to have a relative, your employer or, if applicable, your embassy immediately informed of your detention; you have the right to consult documents relating to the investigations; you have the right to have your comments forwarded to the Prosecutor or the Judge of Liberty and Detention before they can authorize an additional 24 hour holding period; and you have the right during interrogatories, after having revealed your identity, to answer any questions asked by the investigators or to remain silent. If you do not understand these rights, they will be provided again in your written language. Do you understand?!"

Cat smirked at Roger's handling of the thief. "Looks like you've got this all wrapped up. I'm going back on my patrol."

"Sure thing Cat Noir, and thanks for the info. It's nice having superheroes who'll work with the police instead of just running off and leaving us to figure everything out. How long you going to be out there?"

Cat pulled out his staff and opened up its screen. "I've got another half-hour."

"Thanks. I'll be sure to tell the men to pick up the slack. Have a nice day Cat Noir." With a two-fingured salute, the leather-clad hero vaulted to the rooftops and quickly ran out of sight. The Lieutenant pulled the man to his feet with some effort thanks to Tristan's lack of cooperation. "Come on. Don't make this any harder on yourself."

"Why?" The venom in the cuffed man's voice gave Roger pause. "Why do you act like you're worth anything. We're the same, just little ants scurrying around in a world owned by the rich. They have all the power and money while...GAUH!"

Roger shook the man sharply to shut him up and get him walking again. "That's enough from you." He put his free hand to his face and mumbled, "why'd he have to be one of the crazies?" under his breath.

* * *

At the same time, in a hidden room in an unknown location, a circular shutter opened to let light into a large dome shaped room that was shrouded in complete darkness until then. Countless pure white butterflies fluttered about in a thin swarm. Standing in the middle of the room was a single man wearing a purple dress shirt with a black vest and dress pants. He had a silver mask that covered all of his head except for the mouth and some of his chin, showing off the malicious grin he wore. "Ah, a man down on his luck and feeling trapped by those more fortunate. Why should he have to scrounge for everything when those with the power hoard and flaunt their wealth. How perfectly petty, and excellent prey for my vicious Akuma."

The man held open his left palm, drawing in one of the many pure white butterflies. Once it settled, he placed his free hand over it and began drawing pitch black energy into the cage made from his fingers. Once released, the butterfly had turned black with asymmetrical purple cracks. With a flick of his hand, the corrupted butterfly flew to and out the window. "Go my lovely Akuma, and show this poor soul the value of my patronage."

* * *

After spending a half-hour walking along the river's side, Tony and Pepper finally came within sight of Le Grand Paris. Tony immediately noticed that while each story was taller than in the average building, Le Grand Paris was only six stories tall. It didn't cover a great amount of area either. The hotel itself looked stylish with its off-white color and bright red awnings over every window. The place had to be top class and very pricey to maintain its business under so many constraints. Tony spared a glance to his date for the next two weeks and found her sharing his state of mind: accepting, but not really impressed. A cheaper hotel would have been just as good to either of them, but if you have money, why not spend it.

"I don't know about you, but I'm hungry."

"I've heard that their chefs are top class."

"Sounds like fancy people food. You know me better than that, nothing beats an old fashioned American cheeseburger."

"This is Paris."

Tony looked directly at Pepper, his eyes smoldering with desire and sparking with determination. If not for her familiarity with the expression, Pepper would have flushed at the look he was giving her. Instead, she braced herself for whatever he was about to say. "You're right. I want croissants and an éclair. What have you got for me Friday?"

"The Tom & Sabine Boulangerie Pâtisserie is to the east at the corner of a public park. The distance is 900 feet."

Tony immediately looked in the direction indicated and only saw a wall of four and five story buildings. Knowing that Friday could not be at fault, he figured that the buildings were hiding the park from view. He pulled lightly on Pepper a guided her towards the buildings and, much to his elation, did not have to go far before spotting an arch that opened up a path through the corner that two lines of homes formed. As soon as they lined up with the arch, they could clearly see the square shaped park surrounded by buildings. After a quick look down the length of the sides and some easy mental math, Tony figured that the patisserie Friday pointed out was at the opposite corner. "Well, it looks like finding the bakery will be a walk in the park." Pepper's eyes widened and her mind froze as she processed Tony's pun. She was very familiar with his normal style of joking, but never had she caught him doing something so obvious. Something changed in him, and it was recent. "Shall we, Madam CEO."

She mentally shook herself out of her stupor, trying her best to hide any visible signs that he managed to catch her off guard twice in a day. He wouldn't actively bother her with the information over the next few weeks, but that smirk of his would be on his face through almost every minute of it. She decided that it would be best to turn her attention to the park. The paths were wide and packed with brownish yellow dirt and the grasses were green and vibrant. The entire perimeter had trees for shade and benches underneath them. There were only three noticeable structures within the park: a fountain, a carousel, and a bronze statue. The bronze statue drew her attention the most. It depicted two people, one was crouched down on three limbs with his left arm stuck out for balance while the other appeared to be using him as a springboard and releasing some kind of string from her extended right hand that spiraled around her and ended in a small but thick disk. It didn't take her long to recognize the crouched figure as a statue of the black cat hero that they encountered in the alley over half an hour ago. Pepper looked at Tony after satisfying her curiosity, only to find that he was far more interested in the statue than she was. She increased her pace, forcing him to subconsciously keep up.

"Monsieur Stark!" The pair turned back to where they were and spotted a slightly overweight police officer running towards them while waving his arm erratically. Upon reaching them, he bent over and began catching his breath.

Tony looked down at him with a smirk and waited for the moment between him controlling his breathing and him saying what he came to say. "Whatever it is, I didn't do it."

The officer scowled at Tony while Pepper smacked him on the shoulder. "Monsieur Stark, I only have a few questions involving a purse snatching that I've been told that you and your date were involved with?" He delivered the line with an unamused deadpan.

* * *

Tristan sat in a small jail cell while running his thumb over a black leather wallet, his focus entirely on an ID card that wasn't his. "Stupid, greedy upper-class. I bet the purse was worth more than a car."

As he continued to rant underneath his breath, Tristan was unaware of the black butterfly fluttering towards him. By the time it landed on his wallet, it was too late. The magical insect burst into a group of black spheres that fused into the wallet. He snapped his gaze forward with a darkened scowl on his face. "Omnipoly, I couldn't agree more. Why should the masses have to struggle day to day while the privileged few parade around like peacocks? I offer you the power to control all things of value, a perfect way to balance the world's checkbook. Know that this power comes at a price, but there are a few objects of interest that will be the perfect down payment. Do we have a deal?"

He stood tall with an earsplitting grin on his face. "Sign me up." And with his acceptance, dark magic spread from his wallet and coated him completely in bubbling shadows.

* * *

Like Lieutenant Roger promised, the questions he had to ask Tony didn't take long. It would have been faster if Tony didn't leave out details that Roger made sure to question him on. It took three instances of sharing the information gathered from Cat Noir's testimony and another two from Pepper to get all the correct details out of Tony's story. Once the questions were over, Roger found himself having a new appreciation for Paris's local heroes.

Tony however found the officer's dedication and fast response time impressive. The mugging happened only forty minutes ago and they were already getting witness statements. It was a clear sign of the Lieutenant's dedication to his job and an amicable relationship between the local superheroes and the local law enforcement. Encouraging such behavior back in the states might be a good idea.

Tony shelved that thought away for a later date and returned his attention to his empty stomach. When they finally reached the The Tom & Sabine Boulangerie Pâtisserie, he froze at the front door for an instant to stare at the golden logo on their window.

Intellectually, he understood that the stylishly designed T and S stood for the first initial's of the bakery's proprietors. Artistically, he understood that the logo did not match his usual style. Realistically, he understood that the logo was designed specifically for the bakery. Personally...he was seeing his initials as part of a work of art. "Shall we?"

The two entered the store and found themselves in a rather small room that was colored in soft pinks with gold detailing on the walls and cabinets. The carpet was a kaleidoscope of soft pinks, soft yellows, maroon, and gold that could be sectioned off into a number of symmetrical tiles. They spotted a petite Asian woman with a wide facial structure and midnight colored hair standing behind the register. She wore a white Cheongsam, marking her as being of Chinese origin. The woman Tony assumed was Sabine tilted her head slightly and gave them a warm smile. "Good afternoon. Are you looking for something special."

Tony took one look at the menu and immediately zeroed in on their stuffed croissants option. "Yes, we want two of each type of stuffed croissant, two éclair, and I'd like to buy your logo."

The small woman smiled and nodded at his order before freezing for a single second. In that second, Pepper took the time to slowly put her palm over the upper portion of her face. Once she finished processing Tony's order, she tilted her head and smiled respectfully. "I apologize, but our logo isn't for sale." She turned away from him and began gathering the other items. "May I ask why you want it?"

When she turned back to him with all the baked goods gathered, Tony noticed her having a predatory yet still businesslike grin. It was the same smile that technological CEOs and politicians would have when they thought they could get their mitts on his technologies. It made him very curious to know why a simple baker would smile like that. He extended his hand and gave her a stock friendly smile. "Right, I'm Tony Stark: genius, billionaire, philanthropist, superhero."

One hand was firmly grasped in his before she could raise the other to her mouth in surprise. "A superhero?!"

"I used to be a playboy too, but it's not really a good idea to admit to that next to my girlfriend."

" _Oh. Then maybe I shouldn't admit to thinking that Killian was attractive,_ " Pepper said to him in English.

" _For a psychopath bent on turning the world into a mutated war zone for profit?_ "

" _Crazy can be pretty hot._ "

Tony gave her a small nod in acceptance. " _Well...I'm crazy for you._ "

Pepper gave him a smile and placed a hand on his cheek. She pulled him towards her for a second before patting him twice and turning her attention back to the woman, who was smiling back in partial understanding. "Sorry for Tony, Madam. He can be a bit eccentric."

"Oh. So he's not a superhero?"

"Wait, hold up a second" Stark leaned slightly towards the woman with an incredulous stare. "You think I'm lying about that?" He turned his attention to Pepper, putting his hand to his chest in a mock hurt gesture. "Is it really so hard to believe that I'm a superhero?"

"Maybe if you weren't so self-absorbed half the time."

"Hmm, I like to think that's part of my charm."

A round of restrained giggling drew their attention back to the Chinese woman. She took notice of their attention and smiled back cordially. "I'm sorry, but I feel like I've seen something private."

Tony only smirked at her. "Oh, that. That wasn't private. If you want to see private, you should walk in on us back at home."

"I don't doubt it Monsieur Stark, but I think we've gone off topic. Are you interested in commissioning something from the artist who designed our logo?"

Tony gave the woman's offer a few seconds thought before shrugging. "Sure, so long as he/she/it/they, I don't judge, does good work."

She clapped her hands and smiled excitedly before turning around and cupping her hand around her mouth. "Tom, dear, can you bring Marinette down. I have someone here who'd like to speak with her." That certainly explained why Sabine had such a grin on her face earlier. If the artist was her child, then it made perfect sense that she would jump at the chance to net a prestigious client for her kid.

Looking into the back area, Tony caught sight of a mountain of blue. It took him a second to recognize that the mountain was a man. The man easily dwarfed any of the Avengers with the exception of the Jolly Green Giant. Fortunately for Tony, the man in the sky blue shirt looked like the gentle giant sort, with his caterpillar mustache aiding in the image. He looked at Tony with a kind smile before heading upstairs while calling his daughter's name.

Rather than wait in awkward silence, Sabine decided to do what all great mothers do, gush about her child. "Oh you'll love Marinette, Monsieur Stark. She's a really talented designer and artist and one of the sweetest people you can know, even for a girl going through her rebellious phase."

"Rebellious phase?" Pepper chimed in. "What does she do?"

Sabine simply waved the question off with a chuckle. "It's not much. There's just times when we haven't been able to get a hold of her for up to an hour, times when she's not where she should be, or just being late for school more than she used to be. She's even disappeared from her room sometimes. I've checked for signs of some dangerous lifestyle choices, but she's the same lovable daughter she's always been. In fact, it's almost like she's become more precious."

The moment was interrupted by the sound of running upstairs. After a second, the voice of Tom bellowed out from the upper floor. "Marinette, slow down. You're going too..."

"WAAAGGHH!" With a momentous crash, a small figure flew down the stairs and landed face first into the floor. At seeing the epic face plant, Tony was torn between wincing or laughing.

"Fall," Tom finished lamely from the top of the stairs. The comedic timing won out, forcing Tony to snicker off to the side so only Pepper could catch him. She gave him a disapproving glare, but relented on the fact that it was a little funny.

The girl recovered quickly, as if used to such incidents. As soon as she turned to Tony, his first thought was to compare her appearance to her parents. She had her mother's midnight hair which was tied into twin pig-tails and also inherited her mother's thinner figure. From her father, she inherited her larger and more expressive eyes and a bit of height judging by the inch or two she had on her mother. The only trait she had that neither parent shared were her bluebell eyes. She wore pink jeans with a gray blazer over a white shirt with flower print on her upper right quadrant. Once she finished dusting herself off, she looked up at them and froze. It only took an instant to show a sign of recognizing him, which was followed by a second of inexplicable concentration.

"Oh my gosh!" she suddenly exclaimed with a wide smile. She dashed to them and examined them as she spoke. "You're Tony Stark, Iron Man! What are you doing here?! Why are you in Paris?! Dad said you wanted something from me?" With her last question, her eyes narrowed and her tone darkened slightly.

Sabine placed a hand on her shoulder, drawing her daughter's attention away from the pair. "Monsieur Stark is interested in the logo you designed for us."

With those words, the excitable young girl became far more reserved, and even sported a pink blush on her cheeks. "Really? He does my job...I mean he wants my work..." She shook her head violently and took a deep breath to compose herself, then turned her attention to Tony who was smirking back at her. "Do you want to commission something from me, Monsieur Stark?"

"Yeah. I took one look at your logo, and had to imagine my own logo printed on the doors and walls of my mansions. I want something that says that this belongs to Tony Stark: Awesome Super Genius. Do you think you can handle something without flowers or leaves in it?"

With a twitch in her right eye, Tony could practically see her pride flaring up. She turned away in a huff and walked back up the stairs with her arms locked rigidly away from her sides while scowling with the ferocity of an angry kitten. It was clear that she was going to get something to prove her skill, and the knowing smirk on both parent's faces convinced him to give her a chance. That, and the hilarious way she stormed off.

After about thirty seconds, she stormed back down the stairs while making sure every stomp was heard. She had her arms hanging out just like before, except she had what looked like a rolled up poster in her right hand that was held just loosely enough to not crush it. Up until she finally unfurled the poster before them, her display was the most adorable thing Tony had seen in his life. Once she did unfurl it, his attention shifted to what was a poster of the international rock star Jagged Stone's latest album: Rock Giant.

His name was written in a metallic silver jagged font, with the album's name written below in a smaller red font. Jagged Stone's shadowed form stood at the center with his axe held at his waist with his left hand supporting the neck while his free hand was forming the goat sign over parts of the ED in his name. The man stood, towering over the planet earth with green smoke spiraling up his leg then turning yellow at his knees and framing his lower half. A bright yellow sun formed the background behind the title and his upper half. The rest of the blank space was filled by a speckling of a few individual stars with countless small white dots forming a starburst pattern with Jagged Stone at the center.

It was an album cover Tony recognized, because he owned it partly on its virtue of how epic it looked. (The music was good too, but not AC/DC level.) The poster even had the sticker that was made to smell like leather and sweat enlarged on the lower-left corner: He could smell it from where he stood. "You made that?" Even Tony's usual snarky nature couldn't hide the disbelief in his voice.

Marinette's smirk matched her parents as she enjoyed his reaction. "Oui, I even came up with the scented sticker."

"Is that what that smell is?" Pepper asked incredulously with a hand over her nose.

Upon hearing her tone, Tony slowly turned his head to her and rose one eyebrow. "Pepper. That is the smell of good, old fashioned, rock. That's the smell of rock history."

"It smells like stale leather."

"Clearly, you don't understand the era."

"Clearly not, but I do understand that you two were made for each other," she said, gesturing between Tony and Marinette for the second half of her comment.

"Couldn't agree more," he said with an accentuating clap towards Marinette. "How soon can you have a design for me?"

She rolled the poster back up and crossed her arms, giving her most confident expression. "I'll have it in a few hours, easy."

Tony frowned at her response. "Sounds like a rush job to me. How about you take some time to figure me out? I'm in Paris for two weeks."

Marinette shrugged. "Fine, but I hope you're ready to pay for it rich boy."

"Impress me, then we'll talk payment." With that, he turned away and began to leave, but not without one last comment and a wave. "See ya later kid."

Pepper, who stayed behind, sighed at her former employer's display before giving the family an apologetic look. All three of them had looks of mild shock on their faces, with the parents' attention focused on their daughter. "Did I really just do that?" Rather than intrude on what was likely becoming a family moment, Pepper decided to pay for their lunch and leave them to their privacy.

Once she left the small bakery, she found Tony waiting for her with an expectant smile. "You brought me lunch. Were you hankering for the good old times working for your old boss?"

Pepper only rose and eyebrow at him. "Last I checked, the good old times included me walking in on you with two supermodels."

"Yeah, I was a real playboy back then," Tony admitted with a smirk.

"One of them was a man."

For a single instant, Tony allowed himself to be shocked as he remembered the moment Pepper was mentioning. "Okay...to be fair, I thought he was a woman."

"Really?" she asked incredulously.

"Hey, the only thing that happened between us was Alicia. That was her name, right?"

"Last I checked, it was never my job to keep up with your love history."

"Well, can I hope that you'll keep up with my love future?" Even Tony was a little shocked at the line that flowed from his lips.

Pepper shook her head with an exasperated smile then decided for a change of subject. "You know, only Tony Stark can walk into a bakery and come out with a verbal contract for his own personal logo."

He only shrugged and slowly approached her. "What can I say...I think it'll make a great souvenir."

The distance between them closed. He looked down at her with his debonair smirk. She looked up at him with both amusement and defiance in her eyes. "Most people get snow globes, or a t-shirt; not another way to stroke their own ego."

"If I remember correctly, that's a part of my charm. And you know what else I remember?" He paused, prompting her to respond to his comment. She only crossed her arms at him, opting not to play into his little game. "I remember that we haven't eaten yet." He took one look to his left and faked an expression of mild surprise. "Well that's lucky, there's a park right next to us. Shall we?"

Pepper stared at his extended arm and self-confident smirk while completely ignoring the fact that he pretended not to remember walking through the park. She smiled, shook her head, and let him take her arm into his. Sometimes, she couldn't help but love his bold audacity. She was making him carry their lunch though.

* * *

While on their patrol through the cells, a pair of Parisian police officers were shocked when their wallets flew out of their pockets, only to be left behind by their contents: coins, bills, and cards. They nodded to each other and pulled their guns into a ready position before following the floating currency to the nearest cell. In their caution, they left plenty of time for some of the bills to reshaped into an origami key that was inserted into the cell of the latest prisoner. While they recognized the signs earlier, only then did they confirm the source of the oddity. "Akuma!"

When the door opened, a man wearing an unbuttoned green suit, a matching top hat with a golden band, and golden brown dress pants stepped out. When he turned to face them, the group of police officers saw that he was also wearing a golden dress shirt, a maroon bow tie, and blue-green glasses that had a € over the right eye and a $ over the left. Despite his appearance and the currency swirling around in the air, the scowl on the man's face was dead serious. "Down on the ground!" the lead officer yelled while pointing her gun at the transformed villain. Her partner mimicked her actions without hesitation. Normally, there was a strict non-lethal policy for Akuma with one exception: criminals.

Omnipoly looked at the lethal showing with a slowly growing scowl. "The guard dogs of the rich bare their fangs."

His features darkened further when a butterfly shaped ring of light only he could see formed around his eyes. It was the sign that his benefactor had some advice to share. "I granted you the power over all things of value. Do not limit your worth."

The green villain's scowl turned into a feral grin once realization dawned on him. With just a thought, the pair of handguns were ripped from their owner's hands and were joined by smartphones, hidden jewelry, and engagement rings. The loss of their personal valuables was lost on the lawmen. They were too focused on staring down the barrels of their guns. "Bang." The pair screamed for an instant before being silenced by the sound of their guns. "Now...where was Tony Stark again?"

He froze suddenly as the ring of light once again formed. "No. Iron Man will come to you. I have an idea with a much better payoff."

* * *

"So, Pepper. What's going to be your souvenir?" he asked with a bite of a cheese croissant in his mouth. The buttery and flaky goodness of the croissant went perfectly with the blend of sharp cheddar, mild cheddar, and mozzarella that created a different taste each little bite. "How about a crate of these croissants?"

Pepper rolled her eyes at his selfish ploy. The food was good, but she wasn't about to order a crate of them just so Tony could eat them all back home. They'd get stale on the plane ride anyways. "Why don't I get to decide what to get for a souvenir?"

"You do. I just want to be part of the decision."

"Like how you decided what to get me for my birthday seven years ago."

"Oh, I'm sorry. All I remember from then was what impeccable taste I have."

"Which are apparently the same tastes as a teenage girl."

"Pepper! Do you have _no_ faith in the next generation?"

"Not if they end up like you."

"Hey, I'll have you know that I'm very proud of myself."

"That's the problem."

Tony chuckled and took a bite of another croissant while maintaining eye contact. The croissant held a mixture of ground chicken, spices, and dried tomato. Each bite was salty, tangy, and sweet with an aromatic finish provided by the spices. She mirrored him by taking a far less aggressive bite of her meal. "We really need to do this more often."

"Talk?"

"Actually, I was thinking lunch."

"Lunch?" she asked incredulously.

Tony raised his hands defensively. "Talking's good too, but these are simply amazing," he said while holding up the next stuffed roll.

"We're going to be eating these for the whole vacation, aren't we." It wasn't a question.

"Do you even have to ask? Was I not being obvious enough?"

"You were plenty obvious."

"Oh, so you were being rhetorical?"

"Wow, he does learn."

"What part of genius didn't..."

"Mr. Stark." The sudden sound of Friday's voice in his ear drew Tony out of the conversation. Pepper took immediate notice and scowled in displeasure. They were really starting to get back into the swing of things. "There has been an incident at the nearest police station. Gunshots and an Akuma have been confirmed."

"No." Pepper had said that before he even looked back up at her. "They have their own superheroes here. Let them handle it."

"Pepper," she narrowed her eyes at him. "There's gunfire. I can't stand by when someone could die. I'm not that guy anymore...I haven't been that guy for a long time." Tony loosened his tie and began removing his dress suit so his armored one would be at the surface. Once he was armored up with the exception of his helmet, he placed his hands gently upon her shoulder. "Stay safe. I know everything will be okay, but I don't want you to get hurt." He gave her no time to respond before rocketing into the air. His systems immediately began scanning the building from a distance and plotting a direct course for the threatened police station. Just before flying off, a streak of unexpected movement drew Tony's attention to a mansion only one block away from the park he was in. His scanners quickly zoomed in on a familiar black figure leaping away from the mansion, and tracked him back to an ajar window. "Well, that was lucky." He filed away the unexpected clue for later and turned his attention towards the police station, fully intent on arriving before Cat Noir.

Flying at sub-sonic speeds, it was only seconds before he arrived. Already, the area was surrounded by overturned police cars that were riddled with bullet holes. There were also a few men in prisoner uniforms running around and picking up cash that was scattered across the ground. Through all the chaos, there wasn't a single clue as to which direction the Akuma went. Instead, Tony's suit zeroed on two groups of civilians that were cornered by armed thugs. He first went for the pair, wrapping his arms around their waists. "Sorry boys. I'm taking these." Before they could think to fire, he took the screaming civilians to the air and set them down at a safe zone. Without wasting a second, he shot after the second group: a couple and their kid.

He landed between them and the two thugs and fired two non-lethal blasts that knocked the pair onto their backs. While they were stunned, Tony turned his focus on the small family and pointed north. "Head that way and keep running until this blows over." Rather than listen, they continued trying to shield their son from any perceived threat. Tony relaxed his stance and allowed his helmet to recede so he could give them a charming smile. Once he saw the confusion in the parents' eyes and awe in the child's, he flew forward and grabbed both of the thugs as they were running away. Once they were well above the rooftops, he shook them until they realized their predicament and stopped flailing. "Good. Now, you're going to answer my questions, and you get to not go splat."

"We'll talk, we'll talk!"

"Well, you gave up easy. I'm not one to buy into stereotypes, but that was very French of you."

"Just let us go!"

"You forgot about the Q&A. Where did the Akuma go?"

"I don't know!" One yelled defiantly.

"He flew off that way!" The other yelled in panic.

Following the escaped criminal's finger, Tony saw him pointing north-west. "Friday, ideas?"

"With your present location, there is a seventy-five percent chance that the Akuma is heading towards the BNP Paribas."

"Wait a second...I have money in that bank!"

"It is good to know that this villain has simple priorities, Boss."

"Well, nothing like stopping a good old-fashioned bank robbery." Once he set his load down next to a set of alert police officers, Tony took off in search of the rampaging super villain. It wasn't long before he noticed a dome of swirling currency that a scan revealed to have a radius of about 7.5 meters. "What's happening here Friday"

"The dome is formed from paper currency circling at forty miles per hour and is only two centimeters thick. It exists only to obstruct view."

"Well, let's see the man behind the money." Tony darted forward and entered the dome without hesitation.

The villain noticed him immediately and turned with an unwelcoming expression. "Ah, Tony Sta..."

He had no time to finish before a repulsor blast sent him flying just outside his dome. Many of the objects flying around that were furthest from him began falling to the ground as physics dictated. The visor of his suit showed a detailed image of everything littering the road: rings, watches, jewelry, smartphones, a gun, and currency. He understood that petty villains liked to steal valuables, but one actually having powers centered on that baffled him.

"Right, time is money." Iron Man quickly turned to face the voice, but froze halfway through the motion. "I wonder how much you've put into that hunk of armor your wearing."

Tony was forced to finish turning around against his will and saw what he could only describe as a giant leprechaun, or a normal man dressed like one. "Friday, what's going on here?" The question was asked, but there was no response. "Friday?!" Still, his comms remained silent. Tony's heart rate spiked once he realized that he was defenseless. He's had his suits' technologies used against him before, but never while he was still in it. He could feel the beginnings of another panic attack, but he willed it down the best way he could-

"Now it's time that your wealth gets used for someone other than yourself"-with snark.

"Wait a second. You're that purse snatcher. Juane...right?" Through the short pause, Tony did his best to examine the supervillain and searched for the fetish that housed the Akuma's powers. After all the time he spent combing through the Ladyblog, Tony had a full understanding of Hawkmoth's powers and knew that the anchor for the granted abilities had to reside within some kind of item that the holder considered of personal importance. More often than not, the possessed item was the villain's weapon.

"It's Omnipoly." In his quick tantrum, his arm movements drew Tony's attention to an unusually golden wallet that even had a slight glow around it. Jackpot.

"Nah, I'm pretty sure you're Juane."

His scowl deepened when the voice of his benefactor echoed inside his head. "Enough! Iron Man is yours now. You need to prepare for Ladybug and Cat Noir."

As if summoned by his words, the black clad hero landed some meters behind Omnipoly, followed by the red, spotted heroin. A flash of confusion flitted across their eyes when they both recognized the superhero calmly standing face to face with the Akuma victim. The trapped hero's eyes widened behind his helmet once he realized what came next. "Get down!" Just as the warning left his lips, the armor's hands were pointed directly at the pair. With the speakers in his helmet disabled and the distance, there was no way a normal person could make out what he said.

Ladybug remained unresponsive to his warning, but Cat Noir was in front of her with his staff spinning fast enough to be a gray blur. The pair of repulsor blasts were deflected, but with no time to brace himself, he was sent flying back into his partner's arms. They landed on the ground face up, Cat Noir on top of Ladybug. He craned his neck back and smirked at her. "Nice _cat_ ch, M'Lady."

"Not a bad save yourself kitty," she said with a smaller smirk before shoving him off forcefully.

Cat's black ears twitched at the high pitched sound of Iron Man's weapons prepping. He quickly kicked off the ground and wrapped his arms around his partner just in time to evade the blast of energy powerful enough to leave craters in the road, even managing to grab his staff as they rolled away. The instant they got their bearings, they split off and began circling their foes at a distance while spinning their weapons, Ladybug's yo-yo forming a red energy barrier and Cat's staff once again forming a gray blur. Iron man followed them with each hand while the Akuma victim had surrounded himself in a dense sphere of coins and jewelry. Each repulsor blast hit their shields, but the prepared heroes were able to deflect the force behind them and resume their guard before the next volley. "Why's Monsieur Stark...attacking us?!" Ladybug yelled out between shots.

"The Akuma's...controlling his suit!"

"Of _course_...he is!" she yelled out with every ounce of exasperation in her heart, body and soul. It was bad enough that Hawkmoth could control innocent civilians, but it wasn't uncommon for the possessed people to have their own way of turning her friends, family, and fellow superheroes against her. It was getting old, fast. "What's...the plan!"

"Well, Tony...a _penny_ for your thoughts!"

The panic that threatened to overwhelm Tony Stark vanished once a plan of action became available. He remembered how many of the flying objects escaped Omnipoly's control once they were far enough away from him. It was worth a shot. "Getting me out of his range would be a good start!"

Cat Noir scanned the ground and took note of the distance between the sphere of expensive items and similar items laying on the road. It was a perfect circle all around. He waited until they converged on the other side of the two pawns. They paused and took turns blocking each successive volley while acting as a brace for the other. "We need to get Tony away from him," he said with a low voice that the cocooned Akuma victim wouldn't be able to hear. "He can't control his suit if he's too far away."

"Good plan, Cat Noir. Let's show them the Double Dash." The pair split off again and began darting around and moving randomly, sacrificing solid defense for agility. Both heroes kept their eyes trained on the Iron Man suit's hands and used the predicted trajectories to evade any blast that they weren't already dodging. Through their acrobatics, they gradually positioned themselves with Cat up front. After eight months of working with her partner in world saving, she knew every move he would make, and it was the same for him. Once she saw that the next dodge would leave them in position, she slammed her foot into the hot asphalt hard enough to dent it and dashed under the latest blast. "Now!"

Cat fell to a runner's starting position and primed every muscle in his body, discarding all attempts to evade harm through faith in his partner. When her foot hit his shoulder, he raised his upper body slightly to alter the angle then unleashed all his stored power, adding it to her own leap. She shot forward like a bullet with her trajectory parallel with the ground and her yo-yo spinning. The next blast wasn't even primed before she blazed past and had him completely tangled in her yo-yo's nigh indestructible string. By the time he fired, she was too far, fast, and small to hit. Cat handled the one aimed for him with a direct hit from his staff while closing in as quick as his feet would carry him. He didn't know how he would be needed, but he would always make sure to be there when something inevitably went wrong.

The string wrapped around the armor went taut at Ladybug's psychic command then began retracting at high speed, pulling its master back towards the armor and causing light burns through friction. With both heroes coming in fast, Omnipoly didn't have many options on how to direct the suit, but Ladybug was the bigger threat; she's always the bigger threat. The suit faced her fully and readied both repulsors. With no way to dodge and a clear line leading to her, missing wasn't possible. Ladybug knew this, but stared ahead with overwhelming confidence. She wasn't alone after all.

Cat broke his staff into its two halves and threw them. They spun and curved like boomerangs before taking the hits meant for the lucky heroine. Cat Noir's feline ears twitched at the sound of a repulsor still charging, and realized with horror that Iron Man had one more blaster to use. Without his staff, he could only hope that his speed and mass would be enough to save his partner.

Ladybug realized this too and ceased her yo-yo's zip-line ability. Gravity gained enough dominance for her to kick herself to the side just as Cat tackled the suit. It tried to correct its aim, but missed her by the tip of her toes. The beam traveled onward and hit a stray car, causing it to explode brilliantly. With the flames at her back, Ladybug resumed her rapid approach and landed at the suit's left side just as Cat positioned himself at the right. With a quick nod to one another, they put their inside leg forward then pulled them back to take the suit's legs out from under it. They then spun 180 degrees with another forward step before grabbing an arm each, while Ladybug mentally commanded her yo-yo to release its hold. Near simultaneously, Cat delaying himself to account for his greater height, the pair put every ounce of their enhanced strength into throwing Tony over their shoulders. He cleared twenty meters before the suit's efforts to counter the force succeeded. Suit diagnostics flickered rapidly across Tony's visor as he stared down at the red and black pair with wide eyes. There was only one thing to say about the display of skill, teamwork, and quick thinking they displayed. "Not bad."

"Sir, are you alright?" A wave of relief washed over Tony at the sound of his AI's voice. He didn't like not knowing what happened to her during his short moment under Omnipoly's spell.

"Yeah, what happened to you?"

"I detected an unregistered program trying to link to my core systems through our communications devices. I had to cut the connection before I could be compromised."

"Right, stay away from the bad guy. Lesson learned." There was no telling what kind of harm Omnipoly could cause through Friday's systems. The fact that he could reach her through a connection was frightening enough.

Tony looked back down and saw the sphere of money explode, blinding the heroes with paper and revealing Omnipoly with a giant grin on his face. He held his wallet open towards them and laughed madly. "You two bought right into my pitch." With a golden flair of his magic, he reached out to some of the most valuable jewelry in the world: Ladybug's earrings and Cat Noir's ring.

The two Miraculous glowed red and black, respective to their owner, and remained affixed to the heroes to whom they granted their power. Omnipoly flinched when his master used some of his magic to inflict pain upon him. "You fool! You cannot use your powers on their Miraculous while they're transformed! They need to use up their powers first!"

Once the pain stopped, Omnipoly brought all his densest items to bear and brought them down towards the other two like drills. They saw the attack coming just in time to leap to the side, but this left him an opening to turn the remaining coins into a flying disc and use it to soar towards the BNP Paribas. Ladybug and Cat Noir wasted no time in giving chase, though the cat had to do so without his staff. Tony looked over the aftermath of their skirmish with an unusual feeling of helplessness at his inability to directly combat the super villain. During the scan, his systems picked up on two unique silver objects, making him smile. If he couldn't fight directly, he'd at least return Cat's weapon to him.

Seconds after grabbing them, he spotted another oddity: an auburn haired girl riding a bicycle in a beeline straight for the bank. He recognized her as the creator of the Ladyblog and the same girl from the interview that he saw just before deciding to visit Paris. Tony wanted to try to get her to leave for her safety, but he figured getting Cat Noir his staff back was more important at the moment.

He found the stray racing across the ground some distance behind his partner and dived in front of him. "Catch!"

Cat Noir spoted his weapon flying towards him and caught the two pieces flawlessly. "Thanks!" Once his staff was whole, he angled it towards the ground and commanded it to extend, propelling him forward even faster.

Tony hovered in place as he watched Omnipoly force himself into Paris's largest bank with little effort. It would be nearly impossible to stay outside the range of a somewhat fast opponent in enclosed spaces. So long as he was wearing his suit, Tony was a liability. Even so, he had a feeling. Determination, stubbornness, pride, duty, instinct: whatever he would call it, he felt that he was still needed. He scanned the immediate area and spotted what looked like a hardware store, which was just another type of candy store for him. He went through the window, ignoring the startled shop keep, then quickly found everything he was looking for. On his way out, he made sure to spare the frightened man a glance. "Send me the bill."

Once outside, he went to work, carefully bending the small iron rods he had around the largest and most flammable can of spray he could find. Once the holder for the plastic lighter was in place, he lit the flame and looked down at his MacGyver'ed flamethrower with pride. He then went to work on the airsoft nail gun and enhanced its power to the upper-most limit. "Boss, are you sure about this?"

"Nail Gun: 30 euro. Nails: 20 euro. Iron rods: 13 euro. Industrial Oil Spray Cans: 30 euro. Lighter: 2 euro. Omnipoly only being able to control anything with high value: priceless."

"Only you can take 95 euro worth of junk and use them to become Rambo, Boss."

"Live for something, or die for nothing," he said with his best Stallone impression. "I don't now khow or why, but they need me in there." Movement to the corner of his vision drew Tony's attention to the same amateur reporter that he noticed earlier. As he looked over her bright red bike and the basket it had, another idea came to mind. He quickly flew up and landed in front of her, forcing her to slam on the brakes. "Hey, kid, its dangerous that way."

Alya Césaire, if he remembered her name right, climbed out of her bike and kicked the stand down. She was glaring at him for standing in her way, but Tony could easily see a layer of excitement under that glare. "Do you plan on giving me an interview Monsieur Stark?"

"Actually, I want to trade." Without giving her a second to respond, he placed his weapons into her bike basket and signaled his suit to seek out a new wearer. A storm of individual pieces of armor flew off of Tony and attached to Alya, resizing and overlapping to fit her smaller frame. Once he was left in his spandex undersuit that he previously hoped would never see the light of day, (despite all the effort he put into making it look cool) he climbed aboard the confused reporter's bike and rode off. "Keep her out of trouble Friday."

"Understood, Boss," she confirmed through his earpiece. After a few seconds, she chimed in with an update from her new captive. "Know that Miss Césaire demands an interview in return for this."

"Put it on my to-do list." Tony pushed his legs as hard as he could and sped towards the bank. The three super powered individuals were already fighting on the inside judging by the thick stream of people trying to escape the building.

He climbed out of the bike and ran towards the bank with his handmade weapons. He ran along the outskirts of the group of people until he found a way to the building. "Hey, what are you doing!" Tony turned to see a regular man wearing sunglasses running up to him. "Don't you know there's a super villain in there?"

Tony transfered both weapons to one hand and deftly removed the man's glasses and put them on himself. He paid the man's shocked incredulity little attention and smirked at him. "I need these: Superhero business. Move along citizen." Without waiting for a response, Tony began his search for a way in.

* * *

They were too late. By time they got inside the BNP Paribas, Omnipoly had already found where they stored most of the cash. Where there was once a thin barrier, now swirled a half-meter thick dome of paper currency. It was too strong to break through with their weapons and any part that opened up only did so long enough for a coin to shoot out like a bullet. "You have any ideas Cat Noir?!"

"I wouldn't _bank_ on me having the _credentials_ to devise a good _proposal._ I'm _currency_ occupied."

Ladybug let out a loud groan even as coins were vaporized by her spinning yo-yo shield. "I asked for ideas, not puns. We need to do something about his defenses."

"We're going to need something with more bang for its buck. Our weapons just don't hit hard enough."

"Then maybe we need something with more weight behind it." Ladybug scanned the area. There wasn't much left. All the desks had been pushed away from Omnipoly as he slowly made his way through the building. Every single one of them was cleaned of anything valuable. Neither of them knew exactly what he was looking for, but every second that they didn't stop him was a second that he grew more powerful. Aside from her Lucky Charm, there was only one weapon they had for him. "Cat, your Cataclysm on the floor above him!"

"On it M'Lady, but I'm going to need a little help hitting the right spot."

"Give me one of your trackers. I'll throw it over him once you give me the signal."

"Excellent plan M'Lady," he said leaning in close enough to catch the barest traces of her scent. "Just what I'd expect from someone with your brilliance."

She scowled at him and pushed him away. "Less flirting, more fighting."

"Your wish is my command," he said with an added bow. He pressed a hidden trigger on his staff and handed his partner the released tracker before running off to find a flight of stairs. He kept his staff out with the screen on it showing the location of his tracker. From his level, Ladybug was at the doorway of the server room which was opposite of a manager's office. He hoped that the alternate floor plan wouldn't be a problem for Omnipoly. With a quick click, he made his call. "I'm right over you M'Lady. I think he's under the next room."

She nodded back in confirmation. "Right. I'll have the tracker in place in five seconds." Ladybug dashed out from behind the wall she was hiding behind and began spinning her yo-yo to block the volley of coins shot at her while running straight for him. She rotated the tracker between her fingers then threw it over him with a precise flick of her wrists.

Cat Noir broke into the next room and found it filled with the bank's servers. He smiled at the lucky addition to the plan and stood right next to his tracker's position, which was right under one of the giant storage computers. "Cataclysm!" Black magic of absolute destruction bubbled around his right hand before he slammed it onto the floor. Following his will, the magic spread out and corroded the floor under three stacks of computers before dropping them all right on top of Omnipoly. The weight broke straight through the Akuma victim's defenses and caused all the stray bills to fall slowly to the ground.

Cat Noir dropped down the hole he made and landed right next to his spotted partner, who looked at him with a satisfied smirk. "Good Job. Let's get that wallet." They took only a single step forward before the rubble began to shift. They shared only a single glance before leaping away from the explosion of coins, bills, and computers.

"Well, that was a failed _investment_ M'Lady!" Before the sphere of paper bills reformed, they were able to see that Omnipoly surrounded himself in a smaller sphere of much denser materials. "I get this guy likes his green, but does he have to turtle his way through this whole fight? I'm quite _franc_ ly annoyed."

"Well, slow and steady won the race, and now he only has to wait five minutes. We need something to break through his defenses."

"We can't even crack the first shell."

"I think you guys could use a mechanic." The heroic pair's eyes widened as they slowly turned towards the source of the new voice. There stood Tony Stark wearing form fitting black spandex that had futuristic neon blue lines and circles along the sides, arms, and chest. It looked like something out of the Tron series. In his right hand, he held a nail gun and in the left he held what looked like a cobbled together flamethrower, which he fired into the air a couple of times. To top off his look, he was wearing a pair of sunglasses.

"I'm sorry M'Lady, but I think I have a new role model."

She could only put her hand to her head and groan loudly. "I think I can live with that."

"STARK~!" At Omnipoly's command, the computers that fell on him began hovering in the air.

"Tony, watch out!" yelled the heroine once she saw the attack incoming.

He was already dodging to the side and using the desks as cover against the large projectiles. "In hindsight, dropping expensive computers on this guy was a _bit_ of an error," Cat said disparagingly despite the data pun he managed to work in.

Once the last computer was thrown, Tony rose up and began unleashing a stream of flame and nails at Omnipoly as he kept running. The villain restored his defensive barrier of paper currency to block the onslaught. Some of the bills fell from his control as the burns and nail holes stripped them of all their value, which didn't go unnoticed by either Tony or Ladybug. "Tony, we need more..." before she could finish, Stark had put away his flame thrower, pulled out his spare can of oil, and tossed it towards her with all his strength. "Cat, oil spill!" With a precise throw of her yo-yo, she hit the can at just the right angle to send it flying over Omnipoly. Cat immediately followed by throwing his staff at the can like an arrow. Even with its blunt end, the staff's magical properties allowed it to shear straight through the bottom of the can and unleash an explosion of pressurized oil.

The oil covered the ever shifting cash dome and was stirred throughout the entire defense after only a few seconds. "Let's light this up," the billionaire said with a smirk. Once the flames from Tony's weapon hit the dome, the resulting flare blinded all three heroes and forced them to look away. The heat and smoke triggered the sprinkler systems, which did nothing to halt the inferno.

"Now that's what I call money to burn," Cat Noir said with his joking tone. Only after the flames died down did they finally look at where Omnipoly once was. "Where'd he go!"

Ladybug panicked silently as she tried to find the missing villain while Tony stare forward with an analytical gaze. "Boss!"

"What's happening Friday?"

"BNP Paribas' financial records are being hacked. Every account on their systems are having their balance, balanced."

Tony's eyes widened at the news. "That's not good."

"If this persists, we are looking at a worldwide depression and potentially World War 3."

"Where do they keep their computers?!" he yelled in urgency.

"Right above you. Hurry, Boss. He's using the connections to link himself to every other bank in the world."

Tony took off like a shot, searching for the stairs. The other pair shared a confused glance before following after him. Cat Noir ran ahead of him, leading the way while Ladybug took to Cat's side. "What's happening, Monsieur Stark?!" Cat yelled in panicked confusion.

"Omnipoly decided that he wants to play Robin Hood with all the digital currency in the world."

Cat's heart skipped a bit as he instantly understood the ramifications. "Looks like our firewall wasn't good enough."

"Is this really time for jokes kitty!"

"Do I look like I'm smiling M'Lady?"

She gave him a good hard look and was blindsided by the grim determination that took the place of his usually lighthearted expression. "How bad?"

"If Tony's right, we're looking at a lot of bankrupt countries."

She swallowed audibly in spite of her dry mouth. "Right...that bad." The moment Cat Noir reached the door to the server room, a handful of weaponized coins blasted him in the chest. The force of the blow knocked him into the opposite door hard enough to force it open. "Cat, no!" Paying no heed towards her own safety, she ran into the room to check on her partner's well being.

Tony ran in after them an forced the door back closed with a kick, then got out of the way just in time to avoid some coins shooting through the wooden barrier. He waited until the coins stopped before turning towards the majority of the room. It gave the sense that the manager in charge of it was pretty old. He had filing cabinets instead of a computer and a 1990's chalk board. The most advanced thing in the room was an intercom system with an included microphone. Unless they used the cabinets as a shield, there wasn't anything they could use against Omnipoly.

Tony's attention was drawn back to Cat Noir as he stood up while cradling his chest with an arm, but otherwise fine. A sudden beeping in his right hand drew all their attention to his ring, which was missing two of its five paw pads. "I've got three minutes left M'Lady!"

She nodded back at him with a firm expression before throwing her yo-yo to the ceiling. "Lucky Charm!" Red lights spread from her weapon before forming a small red and black dotted box with a plastic covering. When she caught it and looked through the clear plastic, her jaw dropped in sheer confusion. "Earplugs!"

" _Sounds_ like we need to keep an _ear_ out for for ideas on this one."

Tony's confusion matched Ladybug's as he processed the item. He understood that her Lucky Charm was supposed to give them exactly what they needed, but nowhere in his genius mind was a plan on how to beat a super villain with earplugs. As he still tried to figure it out, she already began examining the room. Her eyes scanned the room, pausing for only an instant at the blackboard, the microphone, Cat Noir's claws, and the earplugs. She beamed when her idea took shape. "Guys, put your earplugs in!" she yelled out while tossing a pair to each then putting her own in.

Tony only put one earplug in knowing that the sound dampeners in his communicator were worlds above any earplug. Once he got it set into place, he looked up to see that Ladybug had pulled her partner and the chalkboard over to the intercom. It only took him a quick confused blink before he realized what her plan was. "That might work." He ran over to the microphone and began checking for any way to increase its sensitivity. He was limited to taking it apart, removing the foam layer, and turning up the volume to max. He smiled at his handiwork and gave the other two a nod of confirmation. "Go time."

Ladybug nodded back and ran full speed for the door. Just before she reached it, she heard a muted scraping noise that would've been excruciating without the earplugs. She opened the door and saw Omnipoly hunched over with his hands covering his ears and his mouth open in a scream. Even all the coins and jewelry around him clattered to the floor. Her vision zeroed in on the golden wallet in his right hand, blocking out all other unnecessary information. He was still blind to her presence by the time she reached him, but he reacted the instant she got a grip on his wallet by firing everything he had into her chest. The blow sent her into the ceiling with enough force to shatter the tile and sent his wallet flying from both their hands.

The scraping sound stopped as soon as it started. Omnipoly scanned the ground for his wallet and froze when he saw it underneath a black-clad foot with neon blue lines. He slowly looked up to see Tony Stark removing something from his ear then bringing his weapons to bear. "You know, I think this is what people call the money shot." Tony kicked the wallet to the side then unloaded all of his ammo into it. One he was done, all he left behind was a pile of blackened ash and rapidly cooling nails.

A second passed before a black butterfly rose from the ashes and began making its way out of the room. "Not so fast!" While leaning against Cat Noir, who had ran to her after she got hit, she traced a finger along her yo-yo causing it to reveal a soft pink light. "I liberate you from evil!" She threw her weapon forward, catching the Akuma in the light and trapping it within once the yo-yo returned to her. "Gotcha." It opened again when she tapped it with her finger, releasing a now pure white butterfly which she waved at with just her fingers. "Bye bye, little butterfly." She quickly gathered up all the earplugs and the box they came in then with a call of, "Miraculous Ladybug!" she tossed them to the ceiling. The unleashed swarm of glowing ladybugs spread out, searching for any damage to undo.

One group flew into the hole in the floor before raising back up to return the storage computers to their proper places, repairing the floor on the way. Another group swirled around Tony, relieving him of his weapons and glasses before taking off to return them to where he got them. They then followed the rest out of the building as they restored the damages from Omnipoly's rampage. Potholes were filled in, valuables were returned to their proper owners, escaped convicts were returned to their jail cells, among other things. The swarm returned to their origin, but not without returning Tony's suit. He looked himself over, feeling pleasantly surprised that he was back in his armor.

Meanwhile, Ladybug walked over to the former Akuma victim and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Are you okay, Monsieur?"

Like any other victim, Tristan held no memory of his time as a super villain and looked around in confusion. It only took a second of seeing his face for Cat Noir to reconize him. "Hey, he's that _purr_ snatcher from earlier today."

As soon as the words left his lips, the gentle hand on Tristan's shoulder turned into a vice-like grip despite the serene smile on her face remaining unchanged. "So...you were so upset over getting in _trouble_ after committing a _crime_ , you got possessed over it." Her grip tightened with every exclaimed word, forcing him to wince at both the words and the pressure. "You need to go _back_ to your jail cell and _think_ about why what you did was _wrong_ _!_ "

A set of beeps behind her alerted both Miraculous wielders to their shorting time limits. "I'm on my last life guys, so I've got to _cash out._ See ya!" Cat Noir gave a two fingered salute then ran to the nearest window and escaped in search for a quick hiding spot.

Ladybug forcefully pulled the man to his feet and dragged him to Tony as her earrings gave off their own warning beeps. "Here, you take him." She took a few steps towards the open window before turning sharply and pointing a finger at Tony. " _Don't_ antagonize him."

With her piece said, she left them in an awkward silence that persisted for a few seconds. "I think we just got mothered by a teenager." He spent a few seconds processing the experience before schooling his features beneath his helmet. "I won't tell anyone if you won't." Tristan only nodded dumbly in response.

Just before leaving, Tony noticed an intact wallet in the place of where there was once a pile of ash and nails. The instant he went to pick it up, his captive began struggling against his hold, trying to get to the black leather object. "Don't touch that! It's mine!"

Tony held him at a slight distance and picked it up. He considered looking inside, but decided against ignoring Ladybug's command so shortly after receiving it. "Here, I'm guessing this is important to you, or something." After the wallet was snatched from Tony's grasp, he took the man outside to the nearest police officer. "Hey officer. Ladybug says this guy needs a timeout to think about what he's done. Can you take care of that for me?"

Iron Man didn't wait for a response before taking to the air high above The Seine. "Friday, how about you get me a damage report for everything that happened before Ladybug used her magic cure-all."

"Of course, Boss."

While his AI was busy with that, Tony turned his attention back to the park where he left Pepper. The scanners in his helmet showed that she wasn't there anymore, and he preferred to wait for Friday to finish with the damage report before asking her to help track her down. Just before he was going to turn his attention up towards the mansion that he remembered Cat Noir jumping out of, a blur of red moving over the buildings drew his attention back to the outskirts of the park. It was only seconds later before she dove into the top floor of a familiar building at the open corner of the park, followed by a light pink flash that would've been invisible from the streets. "I'll be damned."

"Either Ladybug is much older than she looks, or you've commissioned Paris's titular heroin to design a logo for you."

Tony narrowed his eyes as a fog in his mind began to clear. Where once he couldn't maintain a clear image of the spotted heroin unless he focused, he could clearly match Ladybug's features to the teen he met earlier that day. He'd decide what to do with that knowledge later. "So Friday, is there anything interesting in the damage report?"

"The escaped convicts were returned to their cells, the video footage we have of Cat Noir at the Agrest estate is gone, and a police officer was declared legally dead one minute prior to Ladybug's cure." Before his blood could fully drain from his face, video footage began playing in front of him depicting a single red-headed woman being swarmed by a group of police officers. Even without sound, he could feel the thickness of the emotions in that room. "Jeannette Clement, born 1989, presumed deceased 2016."

Tony clenched his fist slowly as he watched the police officers celebrate while thinking about the family that may never have to know what they almost lost. As one of the richest and most powerful men in the world, Tony wasn't all that familiar with the word envy, but he knew it when he felt it. The feeling was quickly quashed when a man pulled her into a tight embrace and pressed his lips into hers desperately. Thinking about Ladybug's power could wait. "Friday, where's Pepper?"

"I'm tracking her cell phone right now Boss." His suit's trackers pointed towards the side of the bridge where the conflict was happening, specifically in the area where the escaped convicts were running around. He flew straight for her beacon and found her looking around in confusion in the middle of a crowd that was going about their day as if nothing happened. No one would be able to tell that a super villain was terrorizing the city just minutes ago. Only when Tony dropped down beside her did they pause to take notice of any sort of oddity. Pepper looked at him with obvious confusion in her expression. "Tony! What. Just. Happened?"

"Let me guess...bright red lights started swirling around then all the criminals disappeared?"

Seeing that Tony perfectly understood what she was trying to explain, she took a moment to calm down and organize her next thought. "What was all of that?"

"That was Ladybug's power. It's like a magic fix-it button for all the super villain damage." Pepper looked around the area and took notice that some of the people that did stop to look at them were starting to return to their everyday lives when they were running to stay out of the way of gun toting criminals only minutes ago.

"Is that why we came here?" she said looking at him with an unreadable expression.

Tony paused, knowing that there was no good way to answer her question honestly. He tried to go for the least damaging response, but the length of his pause gave her time to formulate her own. She turned away sharply, forcing Tony to follow her. "I came to Paris for three reasons. One: I want to see if I can replicate her power. Two: I want to see if they could be Avenger's material in the future. And Third" he sped up suddenly, grabbed her shoulders, and gently forced her to face him "to spend every other moment getting the one I care about most back in my life."

She looked into his eyes and could not help but be drawn to them. There was a desperation there, and fear. The sight put a frown upon her face. "Tony," she said with a soft finality, "let's talk about this back at the room."

He nodded back at her, thinking that it would be best to get her somewhere she can relax. "That sounds like a plan. Hold on tight." He took her into his arms and began flying towards the hotel at a gentle pace. She did as he said, the fit in his armored arms feeling all too familiar but not as relaxed as it used to be. It was less like he was carrying her and more like he was trying to shield her from everything around them. She didn't like it.

* * *

"Interesting. A woman feeling coddled like an infant by the very one she wishes to stand equal to, but unwilling to do anything to betray him. Her will is strong, but if I wait for the perfect chance, I can strike when the iron is hot."

* * *

 **AN:**

There's a few things I'd like to point out here that I feel wouldn't have fit in the story. Yes, I did research the French Miranda Rights before I put it into my story. I don't actually believe their police read off the whole thing, but it feels like something Roger would do.

I had no intention for Tristan to have a backstory, you can come up with your own. I like to think his father owed some Parisian mobsters that offed him, leaving Tristan with his wallet which still has his father's ID in it.

I'll admit that I only know about half of what I'd doing with Tony/Pepper. I'm sure I got the banter, but I'm not so sure about the rockier parts of their relationship. And now the shameless begging.

Stories are judged harshly by prospective readers in the instant that they lay their eyes upon them. I have done the best I could with the name and summary, but there is something you can help with. Follows, reviews, and the all important favs: They shine light on a story's true worth. All it takes is a few seconds of your time, and you too can save this story from obscurity...I'm sorry. I can't do that anymore: too silly. Peace!


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